Sesbania herbacea
Sesbania herbacea
Safety & Hazards
The seeds may be poisonous[ 274 Title Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas Publication Author Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J Website http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm Publisher Botanical Research Institute, Texas. Year 1999 ISBN 1-889878-01-4 Description An excellent flora, which is also available on-line. ]. The seeds contain saponins and other toxic compounds that cause severe diarrhoea and internal hemorrhaging[ 1601 Title Flora of Missouri Publication Author Yatskievych G. (Director) Website http://www.tropicos.org/projectwebportal.aspx?pagename=Home&projectid=23 Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden; Missouri Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line resource, based on the three volume work 'Flora of Missouri', published from 1999 - 2013. ]. Although poisonous, saponins also have a range of medicinal applications and many saponin-rich plants are used in herbalism (particularly as emetics, expectorants and febrifuges) or as sources of raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Saponins are also found in a number of common foods, such as many beans. Saponins have a quite bitter flavour and are in general poorly absorbed by the human body, so most pass through without harm. They can be removed by carefully leaching in running water. Thorough cooking, and perhaps changing the cooking water once, will also normally remove most of them. However, it is not advisable to eat large quantities of raw foods that contain saponins. Saponins are much more toxic to many cold-blooded creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish and make them easy to catch[ K Title Plants for a Future Author Ken Fern Description Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips. ].
Botanical Description
Sesbania herbacea is an erect, large, succulent-stemmed, open-branched plant with few, wide-spreading branches, it can grow 70 - 400cm tall. An annual in regions with frosts, it is a herbaceous perennial to sub-shrub in the tropics[ 274 Title Illustrated Flora of North Central Texas Publication Author Diggs, Jnr. G.M.; Lipscomb. B. L. & O'Kennon. R. J Website http://artemis.austincollege.edu/acad/bio/gdiggs/NCTXpdf.htm Publisher Botanical Research Institute, Texas. Year 1999 ISBN 1-889878-01-4 Description An excellent flora, which is also available on-line. , 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. , 1601 Title Flora of Missouri Publication Author Yatskievych G. (Director) Website http://www.tropicos.org/projectwebportal.aspx?pagename=Home&projectid=23 Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden; Missouri Year 0 ISBN Description An on-line resource, based on the three volume work 'Flora of Missouri', published from 1999 - 2013. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a source of fibre. Ir is often grown as a soil stabilizing and improving crop in plantations etc. Sesbania herbacea may easily become an invasive weed. It is a serious weed in soybean, cotton, sweet potatoes, and rice[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ]. Because it tends to colonize the banks of waterways and distribute its seed by water, it may be easily spread over a large area via watercourses. It can be an opportunistic plant in disturbed, less flooded, higher elevation sites[ 277 Title Plants Database Publication Author Website http://plants.usda.gov/java/factSheet Publisher United States Department of Agriculture Year 0 ISBN Description An online database with an excellent collection of fact sheets about native N. American plants. ].